National Security Initiatives

Working closely with our military and civilian partners to improve our nation's defense and security.

NC State has partnered to improve our nation’s defense and security consistently throughout its history. We bring a demonstrated track record of defense consortia leadership at a local and global level. We enable rapid innovation by bringing together the cutting edge of academia and industry and applying their strengths to defense and security issues. Our military-friendly faculty and students demonstrate their adaptability every day, bringing an eager research mindset to focus on big national security issues.

We are a top workforce provider, through both classroom and hands-on experiential education to mission-relevant problems. We also provide critical education and training to military personnel to further their careers, or as they transition to the private sector.

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Laboratory for Analytic Sciences

LAS is a collaboration between government analysts, academics and industry professionals. LAS creates innovative technology that bolsters national security and improves intelligence analysis.

More about LAS

Department of Defense Awards Physicist Sun $7.5 Million MURI Grant

Researchers work to better understand chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) in electrons, in which chiral materials leverage the quantum property of spin — rather than charge — to create current for quantum information technologies (QIS).

More about MURI

North Carolina Partnership for Cybersecurity Excellence (NC-PaCE)

NC-PaCE is a coalition of educational, government, and industry organizations working together to meet the cybersecurity needs of North Carolina, while strengthening and advancing the state’s cybersecurity ecosystem

NC State is the Sixth-Most Military Friendly School.

With 3000+ military connected students, NC State is committed to serving this population.

See how military students can apply

Tank Protection using Steel Foam Armor

Scientists at NC State working with the US Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate have invented Composite Metal Foam. This metal with sponge-like holes in it is lighter than normal metal. It also allows the armor to absorb more energy of a collision with a projectile or another object than normal metal armor.

See the armor in action

Nonwovens Institute Donates Filtration Material to Army in Fight Against COVID-19

Uniting with the U.S. Army in the fight against COVID-19, NC State donated almost 5,000 meters of its newly developed filtration material to Fort Bragg to create much-needed face masks.

Read about the gift

Student Spotlight

Garrett Welsh is the recipient of the first Textile Military Scholarship at NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles, made possible through the philanthropy of Col. Bill Kernodle, a two-time textiles alumnus. He graduated in May 2020 with a B.S. in polymer and color chemistry and minors in forensic science and naval science.

Read about Garret

Operations Research Graduate Program

Operations Research (OR) is the use of scientific methodology to study systems whose design or operation require human decision making. OR provides the means for making the most effective decisions about systems design and operation.

See what you can accomplish

Certificate in Nuclear Nonproliferation Science and Policy

Government, private and academic sectors need people skilled in understanding both the science that enables nuclear nonproliferation regimes and the policies that create and support those regimes. NC State’s Graduate Certificate in Nuclear Nonproliferation Science and Policy prepares professionals to meet this need.

See the program

How AI Will Help Train the Soldiers of the Future

Researchers at NC State University are working with the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) to develop artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can be used to improve squad training – and save lives.

Discover future training

Innovative Project Leaders Course for Soldiers

This five-week graduate level course teaches soldiers modern innovation and entrepreneurship techniques while solving real defense acquisition problems. Soldiers learn from experts from the Army Research Laboratory, tech companies, universities, and the capabilities development community.

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NC State Solves Problems

Our faculty and students engage with real problems, and they find real solutions.

See how our research gets results

Developing Energy-Harvesting Underwater Vehicles

NC State University’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department was awarded approximately $700K as part of a DARPA-funded multi-institution team developing high-efficiency unmanned underwater vehicle technology with marine hydrokinetic energy-harvesting capabilities to enable long missions under high payloads.

More about the project

Monitoring for Nuclear Security

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Virginia Tech, UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan, and NC State provide an overview of several potential anti-neutrino detection applications, including the near-field monitoring of known reactors, far-field monitoring of known reactors and discovery of undeclared reactors, and monitoring of reactor waste streams.

Read the paper

New Tool Aims to Assist Military Logistics in Evacuating Noncombatants

Researchers from the U.S. Army and North Carolina State University have developed a computational model that can be used to expedite military operations aimed at evacuating noncombatants, disaster response or humanitarian relief as part of an ARO effort.

See how we’re saving lives

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National Security Initiatives

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